Protect
by websky
Summary: After a mission with Ward, Skye starts to develop a fever. How will Ward deal with this, and will Skye be alright? What happens after they've been captured? Takes place in season one after T.R.A.C.K.S when Skye was shot. (An Au where Ward isn't Hydra)
1. Chapter 1

**Agents of Shield Au, **

**Skye and Ward **

**Semi-Pairing**

Originally going to be a one-shot, but turned into a 4000 word story, so just decided to post 4 chapters instead of all the story in one go :D

_Description of Story_: After a mission with Ward, Skye starts to develop a fever. How will Ward deal with this, and will Skye be alright? What happens after they've been captured? Takes place in season one, before Ward was discovered as Hydra and after T.R.A.C.K.S when Skye was shot.

**Protect **

"We clear?" Ward asked over his com.

"Yes you're clear; you and Skye can head in now." Coulson directed.

"Copy that." Ward brought his hand down from his ear and looked at Skye. She seemed nervous. Ward placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's a simple mission, nothing should go wrong."

Skye nodded her hand over her stomach as if she was going to be sick.

"I know I said I was ready for the field again Ward, but what if something bad happens like the last one?"

Ward scratched the back of his head. "Don't worry Skye, I promise I'll protect you." He squeezed her shoulder. "Besides, the job should be simple, one or more guards at best."

Skye nodded. Ward took his hand off Skye's shoulder and she frowned, already missing the feeling of having Ward comfort her.

The mission was simple, break into a private residents. A potential informant for the clairvoyant was apparently working out of. No more than five guards probably guarding the place, and an easy access computer she could hack into that could help them break down and find out who this clairvoyant really was. No problem and a simple task.

The only problem was, that on the last mission Skye got hurt, really hurt. A miracle drug being the thing that cured her in the end. What if her bad luck prevailed and something bad happened here? This time she could really end up dead.

Skye looked at Ward's broad back, his muscles flexing naturally through the black shirt. Skye smiled. She didn't have to be worried with Ward watching over her.

"Ready?" Ward asked. Skye shakes her head, breaking the key code on the lock to the door. "Well I guess we've just been invited in." He mocks as a good start to the mission.

Ward moved forward, Skye followed behind. She had an ICER in hand, and was ready to use it when necessary. Ward shoots down two guards, the blue sting of the ICER making them drop. Skye doesn't look back at the unconscious men. Skye looked at her I-Pad in hand, the map of the house detailed. "The computer room should be the second room on the third floor."

"Got it." Ward said as he takes another set of stairs up to the third floor. At the top Ward shoots down another two guards. Skye breaks the lock into the computer room and rushes in, not expecting the guard. He looked back ready to punch, but Ward shoots him before he gets a chance.

"Thanks." Skye mumbled in gratitude, masking the shock the guard gave her. Taking a seat in the desk chair Skye looked over at the computer, plugging in her USB she started to grab all the files left over on the computer. The guard Ward had just taken out was smart though, beginning to delete the files, luckily Skye was smarter.

She downloaded the files in seconds, taking a few extra seconds to get the files the guard had tried to delete. "Almost done?" Ward asked.

"Done." Skye said in a hurry, getting off the chair and rushing towards the exit.

"Copy that." Ward said with a smile, happy his rookie was well enough to be able to do this mission. Seeing her with the two bullet wounds simply had let in these feelings that Ward did not want to have. Has a specialist he shouldn't have them. But now, he couldn't control the urge of happiness whenever Skye said or even gave the smallest facial expression.

Skye leaves the room, rushing to the stairs so she can leave this place and get back to her bunk. She agreed to the mission to try and get back out in the field, but maybe it'd been too soon. Skye clutches her stomach. The pain of the wounds where she'd been shot still stung. It wasn't anything noticeable, but it was painful to remember the memory.

Skye takes the step that leads to the bottom floor, not expecting the guard hidden in the corner. The sound of his gun firing echoes. "Skye" Ward shouted, grabbing her by the back and taking her to the ground to avoid the bullets. Skye's ICER slid out of her hand, Ward's body crushing Skye's body to the ground. Moving fast, Ward takes them to cover behind the stairs.

The guard continues to shoot, more in a panic than anything, Ward shoots back. The guard shots another time, this time the sound of no more bullets coming from his gun. "Crap." He muttered. Ward leaves from behind the wall, using his ICER he shoots at him. The guard falls.

Skye hugged her knees, the memory of Ian Quinn shooting her coming to life. "Breathe." She mumbled, as she tried to suppress a panic attack.

"Skye." Ward asked concerned. He bends down and touches Skye's forehead. Moving some hair out of her eyes. Ward touches her left shoulder, Skye winces, for the first time noticing the pain. "Oh no Skye were you shot."

Skye looked at her shoulder, a small rip made through her shirt where a bullet had slid past her. Ward takes a breath of relief. "Oh thank goodness it's only a graze, you won't even need stiches. A band-aid might even be able to fix it."

Skye lets go of her knees. "Come on Skye, let's head back to the team." Ward lifted his hand out and Skye takes it. He helps her up and the two leave for the car.

**So first chapter out of four :D Hope you enjoyed it, and stay tuned for the next that will be most likely up on Sunday or Saturday! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Skye shivers from the cold, even though it was a summer day and they were in Mexico. She bats her eyelashes, the black SUV in front of her a bit blurry. Ward gets in the driver seat and Skye followed by getting into the passenger seat. Ward started the car and drove a way, a heavy feeling washing over Skye. She takes deep breaths, a fire feeling coming over her body.

Along the road to get back to town, a weird noise is made from the car along with a bump from the tire. "What was that?" Ward pulled over and gets out. "Dang it, he blew out our tire, I was careless." Skye opened her door, careful getting out with the blurred world around her. She balances her body onto the car, the cold feeling she had replaced with a really hot feeling. She wipes her forehead, her fingers feeling like lava as they come back with sweat.

Ward came around the car, to talk to Skye. He sees her leaning against the SUV. "Skye?" He asked with concern. Skye tries to look at Ward, but all she could see were shapes and colours blurred together.

"ward…." Skye started but her voice isn't able to hold out. The car isn't enough to support her weight as her feet slip from under her. Her eyes roll back as she falls. Ward ran to catch her.

"Skye!" He cried as he catches her. Her breathing is long and hard to hold onto. "Hey, Skye." Ward tried to get her to respond, but she doesn't, her breathing getting faster. Ward feels the sweat coming off her back. He feels her forehead. It felt hot. Almost too hot to keep his hand on her skin. Ward brought his hand to the com. "Coulson, listen Skye fainted. I need you to bring the bus." Ward gets static. "Coulson." No answer, just more static. Ward heard the sound of cars a good distance away. They were coming from the same place they left.

"Crap not now." Ward holds Skye tightly in his arms. He looks at the Mexican jungle in front of him. He could run now, but he could risk getting lost, and then Skye wouldn't get better at all. He needed to get her to a hospital. Ward looked at the tire, it was completely blown and wouldn't be easy to fix. Hearing the cars come sooner, Ward has no choice but to head for the jungle.

Holding Skye close, Ward grabs an ICER and puts it in his belt before heading quickly into the forest. Running away with Skye, Ward moves past the spider webs and the drips of dew clinging to the jungle forest. Hiding in a bush Ward hears the scouts from the mansion Skye and him had infiltrated earlier coming through.

"Find them!" The voice shouted, a new one Ward hadn't heard from the mansion. "I don't want those files to fall into shields hands!" Ward bites into his lip as he watches from the bushes. He stepped back a bit, a gun put to his head.

"Freeze." Said a voice. Ward doesn't dare turn around, as he sees four more guns now pointed at him from the front. Ward hugs Skye close to his body, her body hotter than it had been earlier.

Ward's head is batted with a gun, and he begins to fall unconscious. Skye fell out of his arms and onto the forest floor. Ward's eyes close as he watches someone take Skye's body away. He wants to scream and defend her, but his head numbs and his eyes were now closed.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Ward wakes up his head throbbing. He leaned up, going into a sitting position. Skye drops on his mind. "Skye!" And to his relief she was right in front of him. Ward crawls over to her, grabbing her head and putting it on his lap. Her breathing was still heavy, but at least now inside she felt a bit cooler. Ward ripped off the edge of his shirt and wipes some of the sweat off her forehead. Ward checks his ear for the com, but it's gone. Ward looked around the concrete room, that's all it was. There was a small window at the top the size of his hand, and it let a little sunlight into the room. But other than that there was just a metal door and concrete. Concrete floor, roof, and walls.

Ward wipes Skye's forehead again. "Don't worry Skye I'll get us out of this." Skye's jolts, and Ward hopes this is a sign she's waking up. But instead she coughs. Ward turns Skye on her side. Her eyes remain closed as she coughs for an extended period of time. Ward watches as she coughs up blood. Ward winced from the pain Skye must be feeling. He rubs her back. Skye stops coughing after a few minutes, and Ward leans her back onto his knees.

Seconds later the door is busted open and two guards come in with a man in a suit following behind them. Ward scowled, holding Skye tight in defense mode. "My, my, a couple of kids broke into my compound." His voice was crisp like a razor. "And one of you managed to hack into all my files, including the ones I kept on a secure network." He pulled back some of his grey hair. "Now how did you manage to do this?" Ward doesn't answer. "I see so that's how were going to do things." The man looked at Skye, his lips forming a small smile.

"I see that the girl here was hit by my guard Jeff's gun. You see he laces his gun with a poison. So even if he misses your vital organs, you'll still die." Ward gulped, Skye's breathing again becoming heavy. "Oh don't worry she still have another night or two left. Depending on how strong she is." Ward hugs Skye tight.

The grey haired man looks at the guard positioned on his right. He pulls out a vial from his pocket. "You see luckily there is an herbal cure. Simple and tastes good in tea." Ward eyes the bottle, knowing now this man has him exactly where he needs.

"What do you want to know?" Ward said with no emotion. The grey hair man smiled.

"First and simply I want to know which of you hacked into my database." Ward bites his lip, not sure if he should lie and say himself, or say Skye so he'd be more willing to cure her. But then again he might just be more willing to kill her.

Ward keeps his grip tight on Skye. "Ah so it's the girl. It wouldn't have taken you so long to answer if it was yourself." Ward scowls, not correcting him. "Now tell me, you're with shield aren't you." Ward doesn't want to answer, but the grey haired man dangles the vial in front of him.

"Yes." He answered

"And who's your commanding officer." Ward bites his lip, Skye's breathing getting heavier. Her sweat dripping onto his knees.

"Agent Coulson."

"And what did he want from my files." Ward doesn't want to answer. If he answered that the clairvoyant would know that Skye had found this location. "I'm waiting young man, or do you want the girl to die."

Ward bites the inside of his cheek harder, before finally taking a breath. "The clairvoyant, we've been tracking him." The man smiled.

"Why thank you, you've been rather useful for the time being. But of course I knew all the information you just given me. After all, the clairvoyant told me you'd come. Grant Ward." The man gives a signal for the guards to throw the vile onto the ground. Ward grasp for it, not even sure if the thing was a cure or not. The man answered as if he could read Ward's mind. "It's not more poison if you're wondering, it is the cure. Or at least enough to keep the girl alive. It's a regulated dose, it should get her fever down and let her survive another week. But of course if you don't answer my questions Ward, you know what will happen to her than."

As if on cue Skye coughs, blood coming out of her throat. The man laughs evilly while leaving the cell. Before closing the door though he gets in the last word. "Oh by the way, I'm Housewire. You might as well know my name; you'll be here a long time."

The door closes with a bang, and Ward doesn't waste any time before opening the vile and preparing to give Skye the antidote.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Skye." Ward soothes in his voice. She couldn't hear him. Ward tried to poor down the liquid into her throat, but Skye's head kept turning like a child refusing to drink milk. "Come on Skye, you need to drink." Ward held Skye close. He looked at the vile and knows what he has to do.

He drops the liquid in his mouth, and via mouth to mouth is able to get Skye to drink the liquid. Skye coughs a bit after drinking it, but almost instantly her breathing gets more natural. Grant feels his heart lift. At least now she seemed to be getting better, this was a good sign. Which meant the team now had a full week to rescue them. And Grant believed they could do it.

Ward rested himself against the wall so he could lean against it. Skye's breathing was more normal now, but her forehead felt hot. Ward brings a hand through her hair. "I should have been able to protect you." He clutches his left fist. "I should have…." Ward lays back on the wall, knowing this was all his fault.

After forty minutes or so someone brought food in, but Ward wasn't all that hungry. What he was grateful for though was the water brought along with the food. He rips the edge of his sleeve and dips it in the water; bring the cool cloth against Skye's forehead. Skye's eyes flicker with the contact.

"ward…" her voice was grim and barely audible. She coughs again, this time able to move to the side by herself.

"Skye are you okay?"

Her mouth opened, lips chapped and skin sticky from the sweat. "water" she tries to say, but Ward wasn't sure he heard her right. He grabs the water anyway and gives it to her. She gulps it down, but a few seconds after coughs again, some of the water she drank coming out. Ward rubs her side.

"Sorry." She says a little more clearly now.

Ward tried his best not to frown in concern. "Oh no Skye this is my fault, I shouldn't have let you come out on a mission. It's only been two months since you've been shot."

Skye tried to move her arm up, to touch Ward's face, but her muscles ached and her skin was dry and hard to move. "It's okay Ward, I feel perfectly fine." She tried to smile, but even that's a challenge.

"That bullet the guy shot at you had poison on it; I gave you the antidote, so you should be fine now." Ward didn't mention the fact that there wasn't enough of the antidote, and she'd be even worse in a week. "I'm sorry Skye; I wasn't able to protect you like I promised."

"Ward this isn't your fault!" Her voice using more power now. "I'm just not strong enough, I should be stronger. Maybe than I wouldn't have been shot."

Ward frown grows. "Skye that's not true. I should have gone first, been able to protect you." Skye almost laughed.

"Well if you were shot we'd be dead by now." Skye joked. "I don't think I could carry you."

Ward cracks a smile, but it turns into a frown as soon as he hears Skye enter another coughing fit. This one lasting longer, and the blood coming back. All Ward can do is hold her side as she continues to cough. After the first few minutes Ward gets worried. "It's okay." He repeats to her, but really he was saying it to himself. "You're alright." Skye keeps coughing and then after another few minutes she stops. The amount of blood she coughed up concerned Ward. Ward feels Skye's pulse, it was weak and he knew that the cure wasn't working as well as it could have.

Skye's eyes fluttered closed again. "Skye?" Ward tried to get her attention. "Skye!?"

"Uhm" She mumbles in a small voice. Ward didn't like the sound of that.

Ward takes off his jacket and lays Skye's head on it to replace his knees. He goes to bang on the door to get someone's attention. "Hey!" He shouted outside. "My teammate needs medical assistance!" He bangs and kicks, and after a few minutes someone finally shows up. He was a younger looking guard, who opens the door very stupidly.

"What!" He said with annoyance. "You better stay quiet or I'm willing to shoot you." He pointed the gun at Ward.

"We need a doctor." He argued. "Skye is coughing up lots of blood."

The guard gives Ward the stare down. "Please!" Ward begs. The guard looks at the girl.

"Sorry not my concern." The guard turns around to leave, but Ward kicks him in the spine knocking him out by banging his head on the wall. Ward takes his gun and grabs Skye. Getting her on his back so he could piggy back her, Ward attempts his escape. He had no idea where he was, but he knew he needed to get out and fast. Skye needed help, and the people here didn't look like the type to give anything for free.

Ward carries Skye around trying to find a place to escape. He spots a window. Looking out he sees there about the second floor up, and jumping down might cause a broken leg. He wouldn't be able to escape with a broken bone. Ward looks for another exit. To his luck he comes across some stairs, and at the end of them the entrance to the front room, with a door leading outside.

Ward thought it was odd all the security that was missing here. But he went ahead anyway, opening the front door and hoping for an escape route. Ward opens the door to find the grey haired man Housewire. "Did you really think it'd be that easy for you to leave?"

"Yes, yes he did." A familiar voice said from behind Housewire. Ward watches as Coulson shoots Housewire with an ICER. He falls.

"How….?" Ward began.

"Skye had a tracker on her before she even left for the mission. She said 'just in case' if I believe." Ward takes a deep long breath in relief. But remembers Skye on his back.

"Sir, Skye needs Simmons now." Coulson nodded to Ward statement.

"Right, the plane's just over there."

Ward follows Coulson as they race over to where the plane is. Ward runs straight into the lab of the bus, handing off Skye to Coulson who carries her into the lab. Simmons rushes over. "She got shot with some type of poison on her left shoulder. She has a high fever and has been sweating and keeps coughing up blood." Ward spoke fast, hoping that Simmons can figure something out.

"I'll look at her right away Ward." Ward watches as Coulson places Skye on the table, and Simmons begins checking her over. Ward collapses on his knees, the pressure of all this getting to him. He falls unconscious.

**Next chapter is the last one, hope you guys enjoyed the story so far. REVIEW and maybe I'll make the next chapter longer (since it's kind of short) **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Ward wakes up on his bunk. "What?" he said upon getting up. "Skye." He remembers quickly rushing out. Ward runs over to the lab hoping to find Skye. She's not there, but he does find Fitz. "Where's Skye?" He asked in a panic.

"Upstairs, but don't worry—" Ward doesn't hear the end of his sentence as he rushes upstairs to look for Skye. He finds Simmons sitting with her.

"Skye." He shouted in relief and glee. She's sitting up with a blanket wrapped around her and a cup of tea in her hands. "Skye are you alright?" Ward bends down so he's at eye level with Skye.

"I'm fine." She said. "Even got the approval from Doctor Simmons." Simmons smiled. But Ward could still see how pale Skye was and how much her hand was shaking with the tea.

"She only has a fever now of about 102 0F. She should be feeling normal in the next few days." Ward thanks God, for how Skye had recovered. But still he couldn't rest the feeling that this was his fault.

"Were you able to find the antidote?" Ward asked. Skye holds up her mug.

"It's actually a rather easy antidote. The poison itself is quite rare and isn't often used. But chamomile tea, is able to neutralize the poison. Luckily I was in a class at the academy where I actually did a project about this poison. If not I would have been clueless." Simmons squeezed Skye's shoulder.

"And you're feeling fine Skye?" Ward confirmed.

"Just a splitting headache, and a need to really pee. They've made me drink four cups of this." She shakes her head.

"Which reminds me, I should get you some more." Simmons leaves the room.

Ward looks at Skye in the eye. "I'm sorry." He mumbled. "I promised I'd protect you." He admits.

Skye smiled. "Ward, I don't blame you for this. And besides it all worked out in the end. I got the information on the flash drive, and we were both able to escape." Ward raised an eyebrow.

"I thought they would have taken it." She shaked her head.

"They took my spare in my pocket, and my laptop. Which is quite annoying, but to the point the real flash drive was hidden in my bra. Out of their reach." Ward keeps the urge away to roll his eyes. "And thank you, for the willingness to fight so hard for me."

Ward touches Skye's hand squeezing it. This was the Skye he loved, this was the Skye he was falling in love with.

Ward brings his lips to Skye's forehead, giving her a small peck. "Get some rest, I'll talk to you later."

Ward starts walking away but Skye calls after him. "During later Ward, you might want to go for the lips."

Ward doesn't turn around, but he smiles before returning to his bunk. Happy that Skye was safe.

**The end, hope you all enjoyed my first one-shot sort of thing that turned into four chapters. Sorry the last chapter was so short but didn't know what else to add. On the bright side I am working on a new story that will be a lot longer much like my re-build the broken story. Thanks for reading and review :D **


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